[NU Sports] And the second half ...

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

Well, we get the ball first -- can NU finally get the O going after failing
to put this one away in the first quarter?

- Only 103 rushing yards at the half against this D? Pathetic. WAKE UP O-LINE!
- Even these Fox commentators can see how odd our gameplan has been, saying
that they're surprised that we haven't run the ball more.
- A run up the gut on the first play ... for seven yards (SEE!!! SEE!!!)
... looks like the mind signals of thousands of NU fans watching at home
finally got through to the islands!
- We don't go for it on 4th and 1 near midfield? If you can't make one yard
on this D, you don't deserve to win. Then again, if we can't cover a
friggin' punt (Owens again!), we don't deserve to win either.
- Pathetic special teams play. Anemic offense. This is getting embarassing.
- Where's the O line? Were they left in Chicago?
- OK - down 35-20 now. We run up the gut on first play ... five yards
(SEE!!! SEE!!!) and it sets up a big pass play on second down. Another run
up the gut with Baz the next play for huge yardage (WHERE WAS THIS
EARLIER!!!). Noah up the gut for five again (ARRRGGGHHH!!!).
- We needed that fake field goal -- had we gone for 3, I was ready to hop
on a plane to Honolulu myself, so it shouldn't have been a surprise. But
still, much needed.
- Oh joy ... a penalty on the PAT. Did we practice special teams at all
this week?
- Anybody care to cover Owens this game? Sheesh. Hawaii's back up by two
scores.
- Man, when Chang is on, he is just a kid in a candy store with this NU
secondary ... he's slicing and dicing the Cats at will. We really needed to
score more when he was cold at the start of the game.
- After Hawaii answers our TD with their own, we come out and have a drive
with only one running play (the reverse) ... until we get Noah loose on a
screen. RUN MORE!!!
- There are 20 minutes left in the game and we're already over 100 yards in
penalties. UGH.
- A BLOCKED PAT? Special Teams ...aaarrrgggghhhh!!!
- Is this TERRELL Owens we're playing today or what? Sure seems like it. He
should send us a thank you note for this tape to send to NFL scouts.
- Noah doesn't even have 100 yards as we end the third. He should be on his
way to 200 at this point. What's up with our gameplan?

What a disappointing third quarter. We came out without the fire, let them
jump ahead by two scores and still haven't figured out what to do. Our
offensive play calling and execution are maddening ... our special teams
atrocious and the defense fading fast after their first quarter efforts
went to waste. We're now down 49-33 and in big trouble.

- Hey look! We start the fourth between the hashes and Jordan gets 23 yards.
- 5 for 15 on third downs? Ugh.
- Kim Thompson's catch on 4th down was a thing of beauty -- looking forward
to watching him mature the next few years with his height and speed.
- So it came down to 4th and goal at the 1 or 2 with 10 minutes left and NU
down 16. I've always said that if you can't get one yard, you don't deserve
to win. We couldn't get one yard. We didn't deserve to win. Noah wouldn't
go down without a fight, but there was just no hole there. The game
essentially ended there.

We mounted a late comeback, but finally ran out of lives I guess (though we
had plenty of time to run the ball at the end there -- why we felt the need
to pass only with 20 yards to go and 1:20 left is beyond me). The late INT
was a bit bogus, but we didn't play well enough to win despite getting a
bad break.

There's a lot to be disappointed about. The defense gave up a lot after
that beautiful first quarter. The penalties were inexcusible. The special
teams were mixed (great FGs, blocked punt and fake FG ... horrible
penalties and coverage). But for me, this game really came down to NU's
offense. Our game plan was puzzling and our offensive line never asserted
itself and lived up to potential. We never got in sync.

I just have this feeling that Michigan State is going to gash this defense
for some huge yardage on the ground next week. Why we couldn't, I don't
know. Yes, they stacked the box - but our play calling helped Hawaii out by
running horizontally ... and our offensive line -- the experience and
strength of this team -- never came to play. And in a game that essentially
was for a bowl bid, that's disappointing.

So we fell into the Hawaii trap ... certainly not the first team and we
won't be the last, but that doesn't make it any easier to swallow. Our
defense came out strong and forced turnovers to give us every chance to win
it early. We didn't. With so much on the line, it's sad to have it end this
way, with a game that we never even needed to schedule.

It's also an unfortunate sour note to end this season. We got into
WAC-style shootouts that brought out our worst in the opener and closer. In
between, we had ten solid games. Losing to four ranked teams, but winning
the other six -- one "first" at Happy Valley, two by a field goal and three
in overtime, including that memorable streakbuster against Ohio State. We
went 5-3 and finished fourth in the Big Ten. We got to six wins for a
second straight year.

But the trip to the Islands just did us in. I'm sad it had to end this way
for our seniors -- they deserved a better finish after this year. This
one's gonna hurt for awhile. After a few weeks, I may be able to better
appreciate what we did this season and could see us deserving a 6-6 waiver
if there aren't enough bowl teams since we did finish above .500 in league
play and the Big Ten is short of slots. But right now, it just hurts and
I'm sure no one feels it as much as those seniors will on the plane ride
home.

GO CATS!!!
-Stephen


8888b Y888  ======== Stephen J. Truog
88888b Y88  E-mail: sjtruog at jorsm.com
88 Y88b 88  1320 Woodhollow Ct. #2 North
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